The Finest Antique, Art and Jewelry Shows

It was a great time to be had by all at this year’s Jewelry Camp!  We were happy to see so many attendees who return year after year, but were very excited to see so many new faces as well. 

This year Jewelry Camp was hosted at Iona College located in New Rochelle, NY.

The speakers covered many topics ranging from  “The What, When & Where of Jewelry” offered by Paula Bixel and her crew from GILT out of Portland Oregon (this one was a BIG hit even with the other speakers) to Reema Keswani’s lecture on A.V. Shinde.  There were a multitude of classes and lectures at Jewelry Camp 2010 by many speakers, to include, Antoinette Matlins, Diana Singer, Gary Smith, Ruth Peltason, William Whetstone, Danusia Niklewicz, Janet Zapata, Michael Goldstein, Joyce Jonas, Stephen Harrison as well as Michael Coan and Nancy Ross of the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, NY. 

The 1st Annual Christie Romero Scholarship was presented to Alice Riordan of Aptos, Ca.  If you would like to apply for the Christie Romero Scholarship 2011 please send your essay as to why you should receive this scholarship to Jewelry Camp 2011 to: barry@edithweber.com 

This year’s Jewelry Camp Tuition give away went to Caitlyn Wilkinson of Renaissance Fine Jewelry located in Brattleboro, Vt.   

We would like to thank the following for their contributions to Jewelry Camp 2010, Bonhams USA for the wonderful dinner on Friday evening as well as Michael Goldstein, Ltd. New York & Kentshire Gallery, New York, for providing snacks and beverages for everyone attending.  We would also like to thank Macklowe Galleries of New York for sponsoring the printing of our postcards and providing photos.

Stayed tuned, and visit our website often, as we have some exciting news coming up for November of this year! 

Many Thanks to Everyone Who Joined Us! 

Edward & Sandy Lewand

Edward & Sandy Lewand are renown in the jewelry industry for their knowledge and committment to educating others in the field.  They are friends and supporters of US Antique Shows.

Talk of forgeries and fakes was followed by insight into some of the 20^th century’s greatest heists and hoaxes, including the Great Diamond Hoax and the 1960s robbery of the American Museum of Natural History by “Murph the Surf.” It’s important to realize that the robbers were eventually caught, most of the jewelry was recovered, and the hoaxes were eventually foiled.

 The afternoon’s sessions dealt with re-use of materials. Ursula Ilse-Neuman

 of the Museum of Arts and Design, New York City, spoke on the use of recycled materials in jewelry, ranging from work by contemporary studio jewelers such as Jennifer Trask’s use of butterfly wings and animal bones and Jan Yager’s crack vile necklace (fig. 2) to high-style jewelry like Marjorie Meriwether Post’s art deco style brooch which includes a 60-karat Mughal emerald that dates back to 17^th century India (fig.3). Harrice Simons Miller spoke about the appropriation of imagery by Kenneth Jay Lane and Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, famous designers of costume jewelry who both favored Byzantine crosses among other things.

 Faberge expert, Geza von Habsburg “properly confused” the audience with his discussion of “fauxberge,” explaining that 95% of the pieces he receives inquiries about are copies—but “good fakes” that are often difficult, if not impossible, to decipher from the real thing. Often these fakes are correctly marked and sometimes are even in an original box. These tend to be well-made and can puzzle even the most devoted scholars of Faberge—beware!

 

 

The highlight of the afternoon session was learning about the recent scholarship surrounding the Hope and Wittlesbach diamonds from “the world’s greatest diamond counterfeiter,” John Nels Hatlenerg (he admits he doesn’t have a whole lot of competition) and Gary Roskin, scholar and author of the website www.roskingemnews.com. Together with curators and conservators at the Smithsonian Institution, these two men examined both of these famous diamonds to determine whether or not the two diamonds were originally cut from the same stone. The Hope diamond was cut from the famous “French Blue”, a 67 1/8 carat blue diamond also known as the “Blue Diamond of the Crown” which was owned by Louis XIV in 1678 and disappeared during the French Revolution. Unfortunately, initial analysis seems to say this is not the case. However, this lead to an interesting discussion of why stones are re-cut in the first place, Roskin explains that even with minor changes in cut (which actually don’t change the stone’s weight all that much),a diamonds clarity, color, beauty, and value can vastly increase.

The symposium was followed by a study day on Sunday where participants were welcomed into the studios of jewelry artists Tom Herman, Jamie Bennett, Pat Flynn, and Jennifer Trask before getting a chance to view the treasures of the metalsmithing department and the Samuel Dorsky Museum at The State University of New York at New Paltz.

Overall the weekend was a huge success and the conference organizers, Elyse Zorn Karlin and Yvonne Markowitz deserve a round of applause for all their hard work. As participants left the conference on Saturday I heard more than one comment this was the most interesting conference they had been to in a long time—possibly ever.

Emily Banis

Emily Banis is the new Associate Professor and Fashion Program Director at Fisher College (www.fisher.edu) an ASJRA member and friend to US Antique Shows.

All images shown  © MFA, Boston

At the young age of 14 I started my collection of James Dean memorabilia by accident.  A friend of mine received a James Dean biography for her birthday when she was hoping for one about Humphrey Bogart.  I had no idea who either actor was at the time.  As I thumbed through the book my friend told me to take it if I wanted it.  I read the book in two days.  I have been fascinated with James Dean ever since.  Like many people who collect, especially those of us who start younger,   I can’t explain why I took such a liking to him; we didn’t have much in common.  His life was sad and it ended tragically (I was happy and enjoying my early teenage years). Sadly, he wasn’t famous until after his passing and still he’s like the forgotten revenue stream after Elvis and Marilyn Monroe. 

 That one book led to a strong desire to find anything and everything related to James Dean.  I had never really collected anything up to this point, so this whole adventure was new and exciting. I didn’t have much money so all I could afford was posters and pictures mostly.  Then I started branching out.  I found his movies on VHS (and yes, watched them several times). I could only locate one of the three movies he made in local stores.  eBay was just launching, so I searched for the other movies and found them.  Collecting and researching the Internet for items opened my eyes to so many different collectibles and categories that I had never seen, or heard of, before.  Anyone can pick a book from a bookstore or a shirt from a rack, but the uniqueness of the items online from collectors all over the world was amazing to me.  At that moment I decided I wanted to collect the rare James Dean items that you don’t see often and are almost never on store shelves.  I felt that I was being initiated into a very exclusive club—one of collectors.

 From my online research I found and bought a James Dean Collector’s Guide I hadn’t known existed. I read and absorbed whatever I could to stay up to date on my knowledge of the James Dean items and memorabilia in existence.  At 16 I really didn’t care what the items were worth, I just wanted to be able to pick up rare items at a fair price that meant something to me. 

It wasn’t until I was 22 that I was finally able to travel to Fairmount, Indiana for the annual James Dean Festival.  This experience was truly amazing and a turning point for me as a collector.  Fairmount is a very small town that goes to every extreme to celebrate the life of James Dean.  Houses are decorated and the main square is full of vendors and activities all related to this fantastically talented actor.  In this small town, the museum is in a beautiful old Victorian house.  It was filled with collections that I, and I’m sure many others, wished were our own.  I visited James Dean’s gravesite and, though it may seem morbid to some, I do have a rubbing of his headstone, which is one of my most personally valued items.

 My last trip to the James Dean Festival was in 2005. As an adult now, I have obligations and responsibilities that don’t allow me to go every year as I would like.  But the 2005 festival was a big production as it was the 50^th anniversary of James Dean’s death.  Even with all the visitors coming from all over the world, it was a very personal experience for me.  The environment was spectacular, it was almost as though I could create my own collectibles at that point.   For instance, old movie posters were sold and various actors, who were in the movies with James Dean, signed them during the festival.  They talked about who he was and told stories that they remembered.  The people in town took visitors on tours and talked about what he was like in high school.  I met a cousin who grew up with James Dean in Fairmount and he still lives in the same house today.  A series of paintings were done for the event.  Signed, dated, and numbered by the artist.  I bought a painting to add to my collection. 

 That painting is probably my most cherished piece because it was my first real piece of art that I had ever purchased with my own money.  Also, it’s a one of a kind—there are no other duplicates.  Another item I obtained that trip is a dated and numbered brick from the original Fairmount high school that James Dean attended.  The town was selling them to raise money to remodel the high school.  

 

I know, that many of my generation may hear the word “collector” and think of our parents or grandparents.  I believe the word collector simply means that we’ve found something to be passionate about.  I’m lucky to have found mine so young.  While I know that someday some of the James Dean items I own may be valuable it’s worthy of mentioning that  I collect not for what my things are valued for monetarily, but what meaning they have to me and the stories they have behind them.  

      

Contributed by Samantha Walker    (Samantha Walker is the Marketing Manager for Vision Building Systems and a loyal attendee to The Original Miami Beach Antique Show)

Recently, through my network of pickers, I stumbled across the contents of a military collector/dealer’s estate. I suspected that I was not offered the “pick of the litter” of his contents, as those had gone out to family members and to some dealers who had already skimmed through some of the items. The remains that were offered to me were enough to pique my interest and I decided to make a 25-mile drive to decide if I was interested.

The dealer who was assisting the family primarily focused on paper items. While this collection had a lot of paper, books and photographs, it also had numerous uniforms as well as metal, wood and leather items. This included blades, medals, patches and such. The dealer had moved some of the items to his house to go through. I thought this lot, on its own, to be quite impressive with a large focus on the Civil War and post-Civil War Union veterans group called the Grand Army of the Republic. I commented to the dealer that it was quite an impressive array of items and he replied to me that I had not seen anything yet! He then said that we should take a drive over to the storage unit where the bulk of the collection resided. I was hooked.

We drove back towards my house and stopped at a storage unit about 10 miles from where I live. He opened the door and a 20-foot-by-18-foot-by-18-foot unit was filled to the ceiling with the quality objects salvaged from this dealer’s basement. I could not find any junk in the “collection”, only quality. The sight of it all puzzled me for a moment as I tried to decide what to do with this much stuff. But, again, I was hooked. We agreed on a price and, while overwhelmed, I am now a militaria dealer with a huge inventory.

While I am sure that many readers would say this is no big deal—that they buy houses and large units all the time—I assure you this buy included an inordinate amount of items. As the average size of an item was a medal, or carte de vista. I would guess there was more than 50,000 items. Given that I sell about 100 items a week, I certainly had bought a lot of back inventory. I also had to quickly figure out how to transport all of this, as I did not want to leave it at the storage facility.

I decided to pack and move it all in the next few days and would put it in plastic Rubbermaid bins. These are the items that God made for antique dealers to preserve condition of our inventory and move it from show to show. I had to laugh as I went through the items with my friends, as I now own thousands of militia buttons and such.

Despite this quantity, the items that caught my attention were several “field dug” Civil War dog tags. I had been under the impression that there were not any dog tags in the Civil War. Having watched the Ken Burns series The Civil War on PBS, it was clear to me that we as a nation learned the cost of trench warfare and assaults in the Civil War, but the actual Union soldiers assaulting the southern earthworks knew the price at a more personal level. One of their largest concerns was the certainty of dying while attacking the fortifications. The casualty rate in doing this was obscenely high. The likelihood of success—let alone survival—was small, and then what? You are an unidentified corpse on the battlefield that may be held by the enemy. It is unlikely your unit is around to identify you. The burials are impersonal and hurried en mass. No one who would recognize you knows you have died. Those who are burying you will not take the time to figure out who you are. One of the most gut-wrenching sagas I remember reading were about were the wives of the Union soldiers later trying to find their husbands graves and traveling into the south, while we were at war, and trying to find the graves of their husbands or sons, to bring the body home. Women of properness at that time did not travel alone into a man’s world, let alone into “enemy” country.

As I had to remind one of my children, the Civil War was before DNA testing had been conceived.

To try to remedy this situation, the soldiers would often write their name and unit on the back of a sheet of paper and have a comrade pin it to the back of their uniform. Dog tags had not been made available at this point to the troops, and I did not know, until I started researching these tags, that the concept of dog tags existed at the time of our Civil War.

While the U.S. government spent staggering amounts of money, for the time, in building the U.S. Army to fight the Civil War, it had neglected to buy one of the most personal items of use for its soldiers: dog tags to identify the war casualties. I guess this can be understood, in a way, as the senior officers generally were identified, so it was not their problem, and large scale warfare was not known to the U.S. government early in the war. Besides, the war was not expected to last more than several months. The average soldier dealt with the war from a different viewpoint and was concerned about “just disappearing”. Thus, it was not long until magazines and newspapers proliferated in advertisements for dog tags that could be privately purchased. The ones I have seem to be the most common and are made of copper, about the size of a large cent but thinner, I am sure, to save costs. On one side they have an eagle and the reverse is stamped with the name of the soldier, regiment and other varying information. I am sure that they were often lost in battle, falling off of broken chains or falling out of pockets. The two of mine have been dug on the battlefield are of the same design and show considerable wear and corrosion. The first, with an illegible name, was recovered in northern Virginia. It is bent, as if it may have been hit with a bullet. I cannot help but wonder if it possibly saved a soldier’s life. The second looks as if it might have been damaged when excavated. It also has oxidation spots from iron rusting, having lain in the ground next to an iron object. I wonder if it was the soldier’s rifle. The tag belonged to William Wentworth of the Mass. 32nd. He was a private. I have not researched whether he survived the war.

These questions, and learning the history about them, are what attracts me to our business. I am constantly learning. I was not a militaria dealer when I started this, but I am now, and will learn more. I have already expanded my buyer’s network by beginning to sell some of these items. As for the value of these dog tags, I used my database at www.WorthPoint.com and did some online “digging.” I discovered that dog tags like these sell from several hundred to more than $1,000. That’s a lot of money for such a small object, obscured by piles of other neat items. I believe this shows that I bought smart and this estate will prove to be a good experience, as I will grow my knowledge, customer base and be confirmed that this will be a good financial transaction.

Will Seippel is the founder and CEO of Worthpoint.com and a loyal friend to The Original Miami Beach Antique Show

I have commented in the past that collecting is not dying. This is contrary to what many are saying; the belief is that younger people do not collect. First I have to laughingly try to define “younger.” For the sake of arguing, I will define that as people younger than me, which is younger than 50.

I totally disagree with the thought process that they don’t collect. I do believe that they:

• Buy differently than we have in the past. For example, they generally do not want to drive all over the countryside to find one item. Thus, as we saw at The Original Miami Beach Antique Show in January, they will go to shows where a large group of quality items are in one place. They also shop online, as it is quick to find a group of items that they are interested in and they are comfortable making online purchases.
• They buy different items then we did. This should not come as a surprise as this happens with every generation. Styles and tastes change. Also, furniture trends have been bad for years, as first home sizes shrank and the amount paid in mortgages went up. Thus, smaller collectibles and antiques became increasingly popular, especially things that could be put in the mail and paid for out of next week’s paycheck.
• Typically, for those in what I call the “hormone years,” collecting stops. People in the 18-35 age group, are chasing each other and put their collections aside. Once they catch each other, they start collecting again, filling their dwelling with things that will tie them to their past. When I reached this stage in life, I resumed my collecting with Lionel trains and coins, both of which had ties to my youth.

Collecting is in people’s genes and is not removed in a generation. And it will always tie a person securely back to a point in the past.

As a dealer, I must also remember that I am also, by definition, a marketer. This means I need to look for groups of buyers and determine how much money they have to spend and how to reach them. I then need to translate that knowledge into what I buy for resale. If you see me in your booth or shop, you will also see that I ask a lot of questions as I am always trying to learn about something new.

Looking at potential customers aged 12 to 40; what are they buying or collecting? I have seen a host of items. Some might associate a younger audience with a collectible such as PEZ dispensers, and others would just scratch their heads when you tell them there is a market for Sandinista rebel art. Personally, I did not know the latter existed. My best PEZ buyer is 14 and I learned I could also sell a certain PEZ dispenser for more than $1,000. Other items younger people collect are Civil War accoutrements, Marilyn Monroe, Japanese Manga art, Transformers, inside door knockers and postcards. I am always asking young people what they collect. Glass seems to be fading, but it has also been dropping from everyday use for some time and that would partially explain why.

I spend a lot of time in Columbus, Ohio, where WorthPoint has it’s tech facility and, consequently, spend several nights a week living at a hotel. One of my favorite 20-something cocktail waitresses there, Krista, is a collector. She collects postcards, which was something that surprised me. But it should not have, as I have a 13-year-old who collects them too. Post cards were once a way of life, first popularized at the Columbian World’s Fair. They were hugely popular up into the 1960s, but are disappearing from the shelves of the news stands at the airports and hotels. Pretty soon, we may not be able to find current postcards, as they are disappearing from our lives, along with all the other paper items. Postcards are quickly being replaced with digital photos I take from my cell phone and e-mail. The latter is quicker and I can send the photo I want to for free.

Krista brought her collection of postcards in for me to see. I have included some of these with this article. They fell into various groups of subjects, and they spanned about 80-plus years. (I have included some that I took pictures of with my cell phone.) Subject matters included;

• Hot looking guys. (Why not, men have collected their pin up photo postcards for years of hot girls.)
• Photo postcards of art she enjoyed. It is always priced more reasonably than original works of art. The artists ranged from the 1920s to modern.
• Humor
• Geographical. Krista is Hispanic and many of the cards tied her back to places she had been to in the Caribbean.

I had a blast going through her collection and it took me more than an hour to go through it with her, as her attention was interrupted by paying customers wanting service. I also learned a lot more about Krista as a person. It is always fun to do this and to make new friends this way. It helps make new customers, which expands my sales and helps to grow an industry I love. I now have a new postcard customer in Krista. She will join my younger 14-year-old PEZ collector in my group of “younger customers”. When you start to realize that the 14-year-old kid in your booth may lay out $1,000-plus for a PEZ dispenser, your view of these kids takes on a whole new vantage point. Just take the time to ask the kids what they collect. You may help yourself to a new market and also help build new collectors for the industry.

Will Seippel is the president and CEO of WorthPoint.com. Will has been an avid collector since 1974 and dealer of just about all things—with a emphasis on ephemera—antique since 1984.

US Antique Shows and the New York State Jewelers Association have recently entered into a partnership in which we will work to cross promote one another. This arrangement is a “win-win” for both sides as we’re happy to provide venues for jewelers to promote and sell their products, while NYSJA provides members with an incredible host of benefits to support their businesses. We hope you’ll take the time to visit their website and read about this fabulous association and the programs they’ve worked hard to put in place.

The NYSJA was formed in 1909 by a small group of retailers who met and decided to unite together against the impending Luxury Tax that was being proposed in the New York legislature. The group labeled themselves “The New York State Retail Jewelers Association”. They grew in numbers and became a formidable force that promoted and protected the welfare of the retail jewelers in the New York State Area.

For 2010, The NYSJA has re-focused it’s efforts to appeal to all those involved in the jewelry industry: retailers, designers, manufacturers, vendors, suppliers, jewelry insurance companies, findings companies and gem labs. The association has just launched a web-based database giving members 24/7 access to edit their own information and research/network with other members within the organization.
In addition, the NYSJA Board decided to broaden it’s members benefits platform by partnering with other similar organizations. To date, NYSJA has aliogned itself with: Retail Council of New York State; JCK Las Vegas Shows and US Antique Shows. NYSJA has also had the long-standing support of Jewelers Mutual. Additional partnerships are currently being explored and will be announced shortly. NYSJA members are now able to take advantage of numerous outstanding member- only benefits: Workers Compensation; 401K Plans, Health Care connection; Networking Opportunities/Educational Seminars; Credit Card Processing; Fed Ex Discounted shipping and numerous JCK Show advantages. Please visit the website to join and for further information please visit our site.

Barbara Keefe Rosenstein
NYSJA Executive Director
212-290-1555
BKeeferose@aol.com

As I mentioned previously, one of the fun things about collecting and selling, is we get to view into people’s lives. I like seeing what people collect as it tells me a lot about them. Recently, I helped a GoAntiques dealer value the contents of a local professor who died a bachelor and was a WWII veteran. I did this for the dealer at no charge as she is a friend of mine and needed a hand. I was particularly interested in the professor’s books and WWII papers. As I do not buy from estates where I help value items, I gave the knowledge and values I knew and participated in the 2nd day of the estate sale, as a buyer. The professor had been a WWII G-2 Japanese intelligence officer and translator. He participated in the island campaigns, went to Tokyo at the end of the war and spent several years there before coming home. Prior to the war he had received his doctoral degree from Duke.

I was called by the executor after the sale. He had kept many of the older Japanese books, papers and war photos trying to have a university buy them. He had asked if I would like to bid against them, and others, for the documents. Given I hate to pass up paper, I said “what the heck”, and a week later I found out I was the new owner. I was pleasantly surprised as I like paper, but somewhat chagrined as a lot of the items were in the Japanese language “kanji” and, to make matters worse, older prewar kanji is somewhat dissimilar from modern kanji, from what I understand.

I decided to start on the easiest part, performing online investigations of the material. I first went through the documents and found out a lot of them had to do with Guam. In particular, 1945 and the surrender of the island of Rota. The Americans had been anxious to capture the Marianas island chain and had taken the islands of Saipan, and subsequently Guam, in 1944. They bypassed Rota, as the larger islands gave them the airfields they needed to set up bases for the large bombers to fly their missions over Japan. The Japanese holdouts on the smaller islands were left to be finished off in 1945, after the heavy lifting was completed in Japan.

Lt. Oliver, the deceased, and former owner of the contents, was in his own war in the Marianas. He was an obsessive linguist who had gone through training in Japanese at the University of Colorado and entered G-2 intelligence ending up in the Marianas supporting the Navy. Apparently he was left with the effort to try to get the remaining 400 +/- Japanese troops on Rota to surrender after the major initiatives on the island were completed. Lt. Oliver and his friend Lt. William Jones decided the best method to accomplish this would be to drive a sound truck on a predetermined and announced daily route, around the island. They gave prewritten scripts to be broadcasted over the island, with encouraging messages to the remaining troops to surrender.

Their goal in this was to get the elusive Major Sato, one of the ringleaders of the hold outs, to surrender. They utilized the extreme measure of having leaflets, with their route and intentions, dropped to Major Sato. It finally worked and on June 11, 1945 Major Sato, who had been negotiating his surrender with the Americans for several weeks, agreed to come in with an officer and 33 enlisted troops. He agreed to do this with certain protocol and all this was documented in the papers that I found in the former Lt.’s trove. They actually included photos of the surrender, the marching in of the Japanese troops from the jungle and a pamphlet dropped from the plane. Subsequent from the surrender of Sato, there were many more items including Tokyo war crime documents and surrender drafts for the Marianas and such. Doing my research on this project I was stunned to learn that the last Japanese hold outs surrendered on Guam in 1972, 27 years after the war ended.

All this began out of helping a friend out on appraising items in a moldy basement one winter morning. It gave a stunning adventure and picture into a young GA military officers experience in WWII. From the photos, he saw a lot of very ugly things and it also appeared his ingenuity in getting the Japanese to surrender saved a lot of lives on both sides. I did take the liberty of using some of the formerly classified information to improve the accuracy of Major Sato’s surrender on Wikipedia. Major Sato, ho at the time, wanted his name kept out of the surrender broadcasts from the tuck and threatened to commit an honorable suicide if his wishes were not kept. Finally, with the 34 other men that chose to surrender with him at his side, he finally announced to them; “on his, (Sato’s) order and by the numbers, all hands saluted the Colonel, (Stent), then removed their caps and bowed low from the waist. Sato addressed his men: “ I am turning you over to the authority of Colonel Stent. From now on you will obey all of his orders. You will be taken to the stockade where you will be treated well, given food, shelter and medical treatment. You are now prisoners of war, but that is nothing to be ashamed of, for that is an honorable status.”

A very stunning, but minor story from WWII. It is why collecting and antiques are so much fun.

Writer and Contributer Will Seippel is the Founder of Worthpoint.com, an avid collector and a good friend to USAntiqueShows

Afshine Emrani is a good friend and strong supporter of dmg world media and the US Antique Shows division that produces four events annually. The following excerpt is on the homepage of his website . With his permission we have copied it here for our readers as we know that his sentiment will resonate with all true collectors.

WHY ANTIQUES?A paradox often conveys a great truth. “Why antiques?” These objects of beauty over a 100 years of age remind us of the fragility of life. Within a second, one can easily shatter months of work performed by a great artist that has survived generations. The artist, through devine inspiration and hard labor, co-creates a brilliant gem that moves many for years. Through their art, the artist gains immortality. Through the collection of that art, the collector tries to gain immortality, knowing that he can pass on that droplet of light to future generations, much like a parent does a child. Through the branches of our fingers runs the wind of life. The paradox of life’s fragility and the quest for immortality is mirrored in one’s hunt for beautiful treasured pieces.

Life is delicate- collect with passion!

Afshine Emrani
www.some-of-my-favorite-things.com